For those new to this website:
Tamara Rubin is a multiple-Federal-award-winning independent advocate for childhood Lead poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety, and a documentary filmmaker. She is also a mother of Lead-poisoned children (two of her sons were acutely Lead-poisoned in 2005). Since 2009, Tamara has been using XRF technology (a scientific method used by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission) to test consumer goods for toxicants (specifically heavy metals — including Lead, Cadmium, Mercury, Antimony, and Arsenic). All test results reported on this website are science-based, accurate, and replicable. Items are tested multiple times to confirm the test results for each component tested. Tamara’s work was featured in Consumer Reports Magazine in February of 2023 (March 2023 print edition).
December 26, 2022 — Monday
The full text from the graphic above is typed below.
Dear KitchenAid,
I am a long-time customer. I purchased [or was gifted] a KitchenAid stand mixer in ____ (year), and have been using it regularly to cook for my family [children; grandchildren] since then.
I recently learned that independent scientific testing [conducted by a multi-federal-award-winning advocate for Lead-poisoning prevention, who is an expert on the subject of Lead in consumer goods] has definitively demonstrated that KitchenAid’s cast aluminum (nylon-coated or burnished) paddles and attachments that come with the stand mixers consistently test positive for unsafe levels of Lead — at levels so high they would in fact be blatantly illegal if that much Lead were detected in any item manufactured and marketed today as an item “intended for use by children.”]
Well, my children (and/or grandchildren) use this mixer with me on a regular basis; I feed my family food made in this mixer and I am not comfortable with the fact that your attachments are made of Lead-contaminated aluminum and that this was not disclosed on the packaging when I purchased my mixer. If I had known this at the time of purchase, I certainly would not have chosen this KitchenAid product for my family.
All federal agencies agree that there is no safe level of Lead exposure for children and that even a microscopic amount of Lead-exposure can cause harm (including neurological damage, and fertility impacts — including birth complications and infertility).
I also understand you make a Lead-free stainless steel alternative to your Lead-contaminated attachments, and I am calling at this time to request:
- that KitchenAid stop selling Lead-contaminated products to unsuspecting young families &
- that you send me a free set of the Lead-free stainless steel attachments to replace the Lead-contaminated ones that came with my mixer (as I understand you have been doing for many others who are calling-in/writing-in with the same concern).
Your name
Mom/ Grandma/ Auntie/ Dad (your official title in the family!)
For the UK the email address appears to be contact.webshop@kitchenaid. I don’t like going after individual manufacturers or suppliers, but in this case, Tamara has already breached their defences.
What about canada? Will this work for canada and who do we send to please?
And same laws for it?
Thanks
I received my Kitchenaid mixer as a wedding gift in 1984. It still works perfectly. I was told by kitchenaid when I called that the stainless steel parts are not available for my mixer. The beater and dough hook is the white coated one. Has anyone else had this issue? They look just like the ones in the picture so I’m not sure why they wouldn’t fit.
I have kitchenAid purchased in 2018 , professional 5 plus , I was told the same thing that stainless steel parts are not available for my mixer.( Beater and dough hook)
US number said not available in my area….
1800-461-5681
Try calling 1-800 5844315
They are telling me that the paddle attachment is back ordered. Fingers crossed that it comes.
They’ve disconnected the number listed above. Wow.
I just sat on hold forever, and got the standard our products are safe and are tested by a third party. The coating makes them dish washer safe. Even without the coating they are safe and meet FDA standards. The stainless steel are and upgrade and would need to be purchased.
Ugh I just called and they kept saying that they can only send one attachment for free and it’s on a maybe 6 week or more backorder. So dissatisfied with this company after all their mixers are not cheap ones. They will not replace the entire set just one attachment
I’ve sent my email twice, with no response. Since I am able to afford purchasing the attachments myself, I’ll go ahead and do that, and hopefully someone else can get their attachments replaced. But this is really an egregious (yet highly predictable) breach of consumer trust. They dgaf about their customers; but who does, really?
Here’s my letter:
Dear Kitchenaid,
I am writing this letter regarding lead contamination in the attachments of your mixers, and to ask that you rectify the situation immediately. I have had a KitchenAid mixer in my kitchen since I was a young adult, some 30 years since. In 2014 my husband purchased me a beautiful new Professional Series mixer, and I was delighted. One thing I was not delighted with was the black streaks that my dough hook made on my bread dough. I assumed that this was harmless, but I am grieved to learn that I couldn’t be more wrong.
I recently learned that independent xray fluorescence testing (the gold standard of materials analysis, aside from gas spectroscopy–I have a background in chemistry) has shown that these attachments contain lead. In this day and age! The data show that the aluminum paddles and attachments that come with the stand mixers consistently test positive for unsafe levels of Lead. 333 parts per million, 315ppm, etc. The limit for lead in products that children handle is 90ppm, so these products with which we make our FOOD are over 3x as lead-contaminated as toys are allowed to be. This is shocking. I make my childrens’ bread with this, weekly! I make birthday cakes, cookies, bagels, english muffins. I am heartbroken that I fed these things to my children and my husband, never knowing that I was continually adding to their body burden of lead.
I am so horrified by this information, and feel deeply betrayed by your brand, as I learn more about the whitewashing you have been doing to try to convince people that this is not a threat. Lead is ALWAYS a threat, ESPECIALLY for children and pregnant women. There is absolutely NO safe level of lead exposure, at all. At every detectable level of lead in children’s blood, there is a corresponding harm, including learning disabilities, behavioral problems, sterility, kidney failure, death, etc. All federal agencies agree that there is NO safe level of lead exposure.
Had I known that KitchenAid had used recycled aluminum, contaminated with lead, to manufacture these attachments, I would *never* have bought this and used it to make food for my family. I would never have allowed my children to help me bake food, and to handle these attachments. I am very upset that this product was sold without any warning labels, and that all this time I trusted that it was a safe product, all the while feeding my family food that had likely been contaminated with lead, in an entirely avoidable exposure.
I understand that you manufacture a lead-free stainless steel version of your lead-contaminated attachments, and I am requesting at this time that KitchenAid
Stop selling lead-contaminated products to consumers
Replace my whisk, hook, and paddle attachments with stainless steel versions, as I understand you are offering to those who inquire
Issue a recall for all of these attachments you’ve put into the world, to protect all the families who use your mixer with full faith in your company
I want to trust KitchenAid again. Please help.
Sincerely,
Where did you send your email to?
There are law firms already circling to engage in a class action lawsuit. I’d much rather have the company replace the parts but as a last resort everyone could sign up for the lawsuit.
I’ve received messenger messages from KitchenAid claiming there is no recall!
Where do we send the email to in the US?
I messaged Kitchen Aid and this was their response.
(We understand your concerns, but there is no Recall of any KitchenAid Stand Mixers. Throughout our 111-year history, Whirlpool Corporation has been committed to providing safe products for our consumers.
The company’s aluminum alloy stand mixer accessories, including beaters, dough hooks, and whisks, are tested through a third-party, independent laboratory to ensure they comply with all applicable regulations in the locations where they are sold regarding lead content. They are safe for any family’s cooking needs.
In addition, all current models of aluminum stand mixer accessories have a food-safe coating over the aluminum that is tested both for lead content and lead migration to ensure that it is safe for all consumers.)
I have a white coated paddle and I sent pictures of the coating that has peeled off.
Where to send email to kitchen aidin US? Thank you!